The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that the Royal Navy’s Batch 1 River-class offshore patrol vessels will leave service in 2028.
James MacCleary, Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes, tabled three of the questions, asking for the proposed out-of-service dates for HMS Tyne, HMS Mersey and HMS Severn, which vessels would take on the roles those ships currently fill, and how the department intended to conduct at-sea training following their retirement.
Stuart Anderson, Conservative MP for South Shropshire, separately asked for the planned timetable for updating Parliament on the outcome of the review of future offshore patrol vessel plans referenced at page 36 of the Defence Investment Plan.
Minister Luke Pollard answered, “The Royal Navy constantly reviews out-of-service dates to achieve maximum availability of its platforms for operational tasking,” he said, adding: “For operational security reasons, the Royal Navy does not release the out-of-service dates of individual platforms. The Class out-of-service date for OPV Batch 1 is 2028.”
On the future of the wider fleet, the minister said: “Following the Defence Investment Plan, which allocates £200 million to Offshore Patrol Vessels, future OPV deployment plans will be reviewed to ensure they remain aligned with Defence priorities.”
The response gives a class-wide date while declining to provide dates for the individual ships named. It does not identify which vessels will absorb the tasks currently carried out by the three ships, nor does it set out a timetable for reporting the review’s conclusions to Parliament. The three Batch 1 vessels entered service in 2003 and have operated principally in UK home waters, carrying out fishery protection and maritime security patrols within the British exclusive economic zone. HMS Severn was decommissioned before being returned to service in 2021, since when she has supported navigation and at-sea training alongside patrol duties, a role that lies behind MacCleary’s question on how such training will be delivered once the class retires.
Five larger Batch 2 River-class ships followed, comprising HMS Forth, Medway, Trent, Tamar and Spey. Those vessels have been forward deployed on long-term overseas commitments, with ships assigned to the South Atlantic, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and the Indo-Pacific, an arrangement that keeps them away from UK waters for extended periods and leaves domestic patrol tasks largely to the older Batch 1 hulls.
This has to be a shoe-in for the Norgie Standard Class with the Archers replaced as well should the Norgies procure a 6th T26, a win win for both countries and mutual defence.
Maybe they expect the Krakens to carry out patrol duties?
Apparently one of the River class OPVs has been shadowing the on station Russian Frigate for weeks.
Seems like a mistake retiring these with the frigate fleet in such a state. Surely they can hold on two more years.
Agreed! The only reason I could see they would let the RB1s go is to free up crew for the T26 and T31. Other than that this seems like a massive self harm to the RN. I would extend them to the early 2030’s when the frigate force will be a lot stronger and we might even have some form of lean crewed OPV replacement from Norway similar to the MCMV they are offering us.
This ship might not have a lot of fire power but it covers a lot of duties!
The hard of thinking response was always to pull back three or four of the globally deployed B2 Rivers, replacing them eventually with T31s (apart from the Falklands guardship and maybe WIG). That means to achieve exactly what we are doing now, we will be using three or four £350m ships in place of £50m ships and reducing frigate/escort availability even further. What a waste! Extending the B1 OPV lives is the cheapest option. Replacing them with something small, Norwegian and ice-hardened would be the best option in my view.
If the Scottish Government continues to obvouscate until 2028, as per normal, on the replacement of two fishery protection vessels, they could always be donated to Scotland? Lol.
B1’s have plenty of life in them.
They’ll be put up for sale snapped up by an eager buyer
Keep them going. We need more ships so we need to stop scrapping them. Nicer to fight from a ship than by swimming with a knife between you teeth
Pollard’s civil service script writer is the master of the diversionary non answer. We make the error of thinking it’s all about operational efficacy when it’s about getting cost off the “current account.”
Beef their armament up a bit.Chase the Russians round the Channel a bit.Definitely keep them going for 3 more years.
The planned introduction of Atlantic Bastion called for initially crewed vessels to work out wrinkles. Such vessels could also perform many of the roles currently performed by batch 1s but so far I’ve seen no indication of progress.